Franck: Quintet in Fm; Chausson: String quartet in Cm

At the end of his life, Franck composed three chamber music masterpieces which, along with the popular Symphony in D minor, placed him at the forefront of French composers of "abstract" instrumental music. This piano quintet is one of those masterpieces. Like the Symphony in D minor, it has three movements and it's constructed according to the principals of cyclical form, which simply means that the various movements share some themes. It's an absolutely gorgeous piece of music, and this award-winning recording is the finest available performance of it. With an ample coupling in the form of Chausson's quartet, and a budget price to boot, you can't go wrong. --David Hurwitz Amazon.com

French romantic chamber music

The Franck piano quintet is one of the best examples of late-19th century chamber music, along with the works of Fauré and Brahms. The Chausson quartet is one of the composer's last works, uncompleted at his death from the consequences of a bicycle accident. These are excellent performances, very well recorded. June 11, 2008

Very Nice! And only $9!

I just got this CD a couple of weeks ago and it is a pleasure to listen to. The Franck Quintet is one of my favorites of the genre and it doesn't disapoint here. Fiery and tempestous, the first movement sets the tone for the entire piece. I would have liked the piano to come through a little more at the beginning (I realize it is probably a pianissimo phrase, I just thought it was a bit muddy). The second movement was lovely (Mr. Levinas comes through fine on the piano here) and I must add to the other reviewers remarks that Jean-Philippe Audoli's violin playing is exquisite, especially in the 2nd movement. The closing third is eery and suspensful and filled with tension and this ensemble gets the most out if it. Bravo all around.

I felt that Chauson piece - which I am not as familiar with - was charming, if not sometimes quirky, and brilliantly played, but a far cry from the drama of the Franck.

And all this for 9 bucks - what a steal!

W.Steven June 6, 2007

Chausson's quartet is the gem

Like other reviewers here, I bought this disc for the Franck's quintet. But it turned out to me that I repeatedly play the Chausson's quartet when I put it on my CD player. For Franck, the performance here is passionate and intense, but I still prefer the cool and atmospheric interpretation by Richter and the Borodin quartet. And for Chausson, it is a really a work unjustly overshadowed by other French composers like Debussy and Ravel.

Chausson's quartet illustrates French romanticism at its best. The emotional yet a bit mystical atmosphere is already witnessed in the first few bars, and it progresses to intensive passions at the end of the first movement. And the climax of the work is the second movement Lento, which is calm and serene. This is the Swan Song of the composer. Chausson died when revising the third movement and it was completed by D'Indy. The mood ending the whole work does not match entirely with the previous movements. This may be the reason why some reviewers here think the piece is odd. Nevertheless, it does not diminish the achievement of the piece. And Quatuor Ludwig does a great job here in bringing this beautiful work to CD.

Coincidentally, Franck, Chausson, Faure, Debussy, and Ravel all left us only one string quartet in their career. And the first two should deserve much more reputation. I hope quartets specialized in the French repertoire like Ysaye Quartet will play them more in their concerts. I was glad that they played one movement of the Franck quartet as the encore piece in their Hong Kong concert in March 2005.
July 15, 2005

Oh boy!

Firstly, Franck's Piano Quintet is a masterpiece by any standards. Such passion. Try out the furious coda to the 'con fuoco' finale if you want an example. But the Quintet has you on the edge of your seat throughout. It is truly remarkable music and, in its demonic intensity, quite unlike any other 19th cent. French composition. The Quator's performance copes admirably with the extremes of Franck's dynamics. They are urgent when necessary but also elegant and refined. They drag you through this piece from the opening passage of the first movement to the riveting disintegrating concluding passage of the last. Special mention must go to the wonderfully eloquent and subtle playing of Jean-Phillippe Audoli. And Michael Levinas projects the difficult piano part with genuine individualism but does not overwhelm the texture of the Quartet players. This disc would be a must-buy at Full Price, but at Bargain Price there is no excuse for hesitation (P.S....the sound quality is good with a warm ambience and perfect balance between piano and strings). BUY IT! November 30, 2001

Ravishing

The Franck quintet certainly is. Inspired by one of Franck's piano pupils, an apparently alluring young woman, the Piano Quintet is one of the most sultry works in chamber literature. From the passionate cry of its opening measure to the relentlessly driven last movement, a sort of "Chasseur Maudit" in which lust is the pursuing demon, the work was too much for its dedicatee, the sedate (at least in musical terms) Camille Saint-Saens. At the premiere of the work, in which Saint-Saens was soloist, he stormed off the stage, leaving the music behind on the piano.

Unlike Saint-Saens, Michael Levinas and the Ludwig Quartet clearly love this music and embrace its passionate nature with a special fire in their playing. And Levinas manages to get inside the difficult piano part to show that it is perhaps the most musical, as well as musically challenging, of all the celebrated 19th-century piano quintets.

The Chausson quartet, a work that was presumably incomplete on the composer's death, has an understandably unfinished quality, but that gives this very interesting piece an added mysteriousness. Not at all as firey as the Franck, it is a piece of proto-Impressionism in the style of Chausson's Concert: somewhat rambling, but filled with striking ideas and producing sauve sounds on the strings more anticipatory of Ravel than of Debussy.

The sound on this Naxos disc is not quite as polished as the performances, but it is certainly well above average. All around, a great bargain. November 16, 2001

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